The Children of King Englebert
by roseannacharlotte
Summary: Narnia also included. Possibly will include other fandoms that haven't been chosen yet. King Englebert had two sons and two daughters. His children might have been forgotten in that first life but their reincarnations haven't been. The stories have been twisted though so this tale is to set the record straight.
1. Prologue

Some people are born to live extraordinary lives. The four children of King Englebert did not seem to be anything remarkable. Not in that lifetime at least. However, those four siblings kept being reborn and every life other than the first was incredible. Tales of their deeds would be passed on forever more. But stories tend to change with each retelling, little detail by little detail, until eventually the story is barely recognisable. So the following is a record of everything that truly occurred in the lives of King Englebert's sons and daughters.

King Englebert had two sons and two daughters. His sons, Alfred and Alexander, were strong and fierce warriors. The siblings were very close and could not bear to be long separated. Eventually Englebert passed away and Alfred became king. His brother and sisters assisted his reign and all four died unmarried so there were no heirs meaning Englebert's kingdom was lost and very soon forgotten.

Alfred was confused. Hadn't he just died of that fever? And why did he feel so… small?

"Hello Arthur. Welcome to the world little prince." Wait, had he been reborn?

Patience allowed her eyelids to flutter shut as she felt death descend upon her. A bright light shone on her eyelids. What was that?

"Congratulations my lady, it's a girl. Have you chosen a name?"

"Morgana. She will be the Lady Morgana." Patience opened her eyes and screamed.

Alexander gasped as the sword pierced his side. It was a fatal wound he knew. So it was rather a shock when it abruptly stopped hurting. He opened his eyes and saw a woman looking down at him. She gasped.

"Oh my poor Merlin. We shall have to keep you hidden my love."

Faith awoke feeling different somehow. She couldn't really tell you how though. A finger poked at her and she tried to tell whoever it was to stop but seemed unable to form words. So she opened her eyes. A boy of about four years was staring down at her.

"Gwen's awake!" he called out.

"Did you wake her Elyan?" a female voice asked as its owner entered Faith's range of vision. Faith found herself being picked up and realised something important. She was a baby.


	2. Chapter 1

When Patience was, once again, twelve Morgana's father, Gorlois died. Morgana was taken to Camelot to become the king's ward. King Uther and his son, Prince Arthur, were stood on the steps of Camelot Castle, waiting to greet her. When Patience's eyes fell on the boy stood beside the king, a flutter of shock and recognition went through the young girl. Alfred stood on the steps looking at her with an expression probably mirroring her own. He knew who she was.

Patience had to fight hard to keep the grin off her face; after all she was supposed to be in mourning, and no one could know that she and the prince were reincarnated brother and sister. It spoke too much of magic and the king hated magic. In fact the king had declared magic against the law and anyone caught using it would be executed.

But Patience wasn't worried about the king's views on magic (even though she knew from her previous life that they were unjust) at this moment. All the young girl cared about was seeing her brother again. She had begun to lose all hope of ever seeing anyone from her previous life again until she set eyes on Alfred. Surely that meant Alexander and Faith were around too.

The king had been making some speech welcoming the Lady Morgana to Camelot but Patience hadn't been listening. Uther finished his speech, came forward and gave a gallant bow to his new ward who curtsied back. Uther then gestured to his son to come forward also and greet the Lady.

"Arthur, why don't you take Morgana and show her around Camelot, help her get to know the place," suggested the King

"Yes father," Prince Arthur readily agreed, both he and Patience happy for the excuse to spend some time together. The reincarnated siblings spent the afternoon strolling around Camelot talking of everything that had occurred in this life and the last. Eventually they came to the chambers the king had had prepared for his new ward. Arthur knew that his father had hired a girl about their age from the town to be Morgana's ladies maid but he hadn't actually met the girl. When Alfred and Patience entered Morgana's chambers, the girl was smoothing out the bedclothes but turned as they entered and grinned when she saw them.

"Faith!" both Patience and Alfred cried at once. The family of three embraced each other, happy to be reunited. Their happiness was tinged with a touch of sadness however, since the siblings didn't know where Alexander was. It would be several years before they did.

Alexander stared up at the citadel with awe. Camelot was indeed a beautiful city; even if its beauty was marred by the brutality of the King's purge of magic.

When Alexander entered the courtyard of the castle, a large crowd was gathered, apparently waiting for an execution to take place. Alexander found himself stuck in the crowd, unable to leave and seek Gaius the court physician, who was his uncle in this life. As he tried to avoid looking at the man who was to be executed for practising magic, Alexander's eyes found themselves looking at a window where a woman stood. Not just any woman either. The woman stood at the window was Patience, Alexander's older sister. The excitement Alexander felt at the realisation that one of his siblings was here distracted the young warlock from the rest of the execution. As soon as it was over, Alexander hurried out of the courtyard to find Merlin's uncle.

Alfred, as was his habit, had left Camelot during the execution, using patrol with Sir Leon as an excuse. Whilst they were out, a snake had caused Alfred's horse o spook, and despite his excellent horsemanship, Alfred lost his seat. Unfortunately when he fell he landed upon a sharp rock which caused a gash in the man's forearm. The cut wasn't deep but since it wouldn't stop bleeding, the prince and knight decided to turn their horses round and head to see the court physician. As the pair approached the physician's door, voices drifted out of the chamber; one voice belonged to Gaius, the other seemed oddly familiar to the prince. Alfred opened the door and froze in the doorway upon seeing the young man talking to Gaius.

Gaius eyebrow lifted in confusion as Merlin turned to the prince and replied.

"Alfred?" Leon, who being the best friend of Prince Arthur, was in the confidence of the three siblings living in Camelot, smiled as he realised who was inside the physician's chambers. Then Leon's brain caught up with him.

"Might I suggest we have this conversation somewhere other than a stairwell where we might be overheard?"

"An excellent suggestion Leon. Would you be so kind as to fetch Lady Morgana and Gwen please." Leon nodded and walked quickly in the direction of Lady Morgana's chambers. Alexander frowned as he wondered who Morgana and Gwen were and why Alfred wanted them to come. He didn't have long to ponder this though as Alfred came forward to embrace his brother.

When the two men broke apart they realised that Gaius was watching them with an eyebrow raised. The brothers gave each other 'you explain' looks before turning back to the physician and both started to speak at once. Suddenly Morgana and Gwen burst into the room with Leon hot on their heels. Morgana took one look at Merlin and pulled him and the prince into her embrace. Gwen threw herself into the group hug. Leon closed and locked the door, smiling indulgently at the reunited siblings.

"Would someone care to explain what is happening?" Gaius interrupted the happy reunion. It was Patience who explained to the court physician exactly what was going on. By the time she had completed her explanation, Gaius had nearly lost his eyebrow in his hair. Suddenly Alexander clutched at his head.

"What is wrong brother?" Alfred asked placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"There was a voice inside my head, calling for Merlin. It seemed to come from beneath the castle." Alfred stared at his brother in dismay as the implication of Alexander's words struck him.

"You have magic in this life." Merlin nodded. Alfred frowned.

"Why have you come to Camelot? The king will kill you if he finds out."

"Gaius is my uncle in this life; mother hoped he could teach me control.

"We'll all go," declared Morgana. The others expressed their agreement and since Gaius had stitched up Arthur's cut whilst they were talking; the group of young people left the physician's chambers together. They wandered down corridor after corridor until up ahead they saw two guards playing dice as they guarded a passage hewn from the very rock upon which the castle sat. Merlin knew that the group needed to go down the passage to find the speaker.

"How are we to get past the guards?" Gwen asked.

"Swefne." Merlin answered by putting the guards to sleep.

"Well that works," said the prince. "Come on then. Let's see who wants to talk to Alexander so badly." The children of King Englebert and their friend quickly hurried down the stone passageway, hoping no one would discover the sleeping guards whilst they were there. When they reached the end of the passageway the group discovered they were stood upon a rock ledge looking out over an enormous cavern. Within the cavern sat an enormous golden dragon looking at them in puzzlement.

"You called?" drawled Alexander, for a moment reminding his siblings of how he had been when he too was a prince.

"I was not expecting you to bring _others_," admitted the somewhat confused dragon.

It was obvious that the dragon didn't know what to make of this turn of events.

"I assume you had something you wanted to speak with me about?" Alexander prompted the dragon.

"I will tell you nothing with that witch present," declared the dragon, looking at Morgana with a disturbing level of hatred in his eyes. Alexander's voice was frosty when he replied.

"That witch, as you call her, is my sister. Whatever you wish to tell me you will say in front of her or I will not listen to a word you have to say." The dragon seemed thoroughly discombobulated now. Faith stepped forward and asked the dragon a question. A question the dragon was clearly not expecting.

"Did you ever know a king named Englebert?"

"I did, though not well I will admit."

"Apart from Sir Leon here, we are the children of King Englebert" The dragon's jaw dropped.

"The prophecy does not speak of reincarnation," murmured the dragon, apparently to himself. The humans shared a look.

"What prophecy do you speak of dragon?" asked Alfred.

"There is a prophecy about a king who will unite Albion and bring back magic. This king has a friendship with the most powerful warlock to ever walk the earth, who will protect the king against all threats. There is a lot more to the prophecy but I cannot tell you all. One part of it says that the king will be betrayed by a witch he considers a sister."

"And you believe Arthur is the king of the prophecy, I am the warlock and Morgana is the witch?" confirmed Alexander.

"I do not believe it; I know it," the dragon replied.

"You are wrong. I will never betray my brothers," Patience retorted fiercely.

"Come consorts, let us return to the castle proper," suggested Alexander turning his back on the dragon and offering an arm to each of his sisters. The two ladies took their brother's arms and allowed him to escort them up the passage. Alfred and Sir Leon followed behind them.

As soon as they were safely out of the passage and hidden from the guards view Merlin woke them up again. The five then resumed the personas everyone else would see and hurried back to the main part of the castle. They were just starting to relax, thinking they had gotten away with it, when a knight came towards them. For a moment, they thought they had been caught conversing with a dragon, but then the knight bowed before Arthur.

"Sire, your father asked me to find you. Lady Helen is about to arrive; your presence is required in the courtyard."

"Thankyou Sir Ethan." The group changed direction and headed towards the castle courtyard. Once there the group split up. Arthur and Morgana went to stand with the king, Sir Leon with the other knights and Merlin and Gwen with the few servants waiting. A clatter of hoof beats heralded the arrival of Lady Helen. The lady dismounted and curtsied to the king, his son and his ward. Merlin's magical senses were on high alert. Something wasn't right about Lady Helen. Alexander's gaze found a puddle and noticed that it held a reflection of Lady Helen. Only it wasn't really Lady Helen. This woman was much older and obviously a sorceress, seeing as she was disguised as Lady Helen. Merlin had an uneasy feeling that the real Lady Helen was now dead.

_She has magic__."_ Alexander saw Alfred stiffen slightly and knew he'd received Merlin's telepathic message. Prince Arthur caught Merlin's eye and gave a quick nod to show he understood.

The King finished greeting the imposter and a servant escorted her away to the guest chambers that had been prepared for Lady Helen. Merlin, Gwen and Arthur's current manservant, Morris, fell into step behind Arthur and Morgana as they headed to Arthur's chambers. As they reached the main staircase, Arthur sent Morris off to fetch food for himself and Morgana. He didn't request food for Merlin and Gwen as it would have seemed odd.

When the reincarnated and reunited siblings reached Arthur's chambers, they all took a seat at the table and Alexander filled the sisters in on the imposter situation.

"She could be that mother from the execution. She did say she wanted revenge on Uther before the end of the festival," pointed out Morgana. The others nodded as a knock came at the door. Merlin and Gwen stood up whilst servants came and placed a large quantity of food on the table. Sir Leon had arrived at the same time as the servants. Once the servants had been dismissed, the group sat down to eat and filled Sir Leon in on everything that had been happening.

"Should we confront her?" asked Faith.

"No. We run the risk of people finding out about us if we do that. We'll just have to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't try anything," Alfred replied.

So that was what they did. Merlin was kept busy with chores for Gaius whilst the others carried out their normal daily routines. The day after Merlin arrived in Camelot, a feast was held to celebrate twenty years of the purge. Gaius pulled some strings to get Merlin a job serving at the feast.

'Lady Helen' was to sing at the feast and as she began her song, Alexander realised something was wrong. Around the room, everyone was falling asleep. Alexander covered his hands with his ears to reduce the effect of 'Lady Helen's' singing.

"What are you doing Madam?" he asked the lady telepathically.

"I'm going to kill the Pendragon Prince so Uther will know my pain. He killed my son you know." The woman pulled out a dagger as she spoke and prepared to throw it at Arthur.

"He was my brother before he was Uther's son. I can't let you kill him." Alexander broke the chain on the chandelier the old lady stood below. It fell to the ground, crushing her and stopping her song. People began to wake up. The old lady, who no longer looked like Lady Helen, raised herself up a little and threw the dagger at Arthur. Her final breath left her body.

Barely awake, Alfred watched the dagger hurtle towards him in horror. Alexander slowed down time and pulled Alfred out of the way. The king was shocked.

"You saved my son's life. You must be rewarded for this. I will give you a place in the royal household. You will be Prince Arthur's manservant."

"Father!"


End file.
